Underinsured and uninsured patients. Basic health care: the Washington State experiment.

ABSTRACT

During the early 1980s in the state of Washington, a change in access to health care became apparent. This was due to a change in the basic method of financing. Within the state, a shift to a service-dominated economy resulted in minimum wage earning with no fringe benefit for health, and a severe recession resulted in unemployment and under-employment. This article describes the approach taken by the people of Washington in order to solve this problem and documents the results of their work, as of December 1988. The story is not over, but it does illustrate what can be done when members of a society decide to work together to solve a problem.